


Soft

by Arthionn



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Tower, Bucky Barnes - Freeform, But kinda the same vibe, Characters all live in Stark Tower, Clint in probably in the vents, F/M, Fluff, God I need to work on tags lmao, I have no shame, I haven't written fan fiction in a long time, I just really need a hug lmao, Not a fix it fix, Not so much fluff that you can't read infant of your family though, Reader is tired, Self Insert Fan Fic, This is a classic, This is a trope that is like... very popular in 2016, Thor probably wants pop tarts, anyway, that kind of fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28126941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arthionn/pseuds/Arthionn
Summary: The Reader and Avengers Team are back from a long mission. The Reader is sleep deprived, so is Bucky. After the briefing the two of them fall asleep on the couch. They cuddle. It's cute, I think... idk.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader
Comments: 3
Kudos: 79





	Soft

“Hey, (Y/N), you alright?” You tensed before you quickly looked over at Steve as the Quinjet began to land. It was a dumb question to ask, and you almost said as much before another wave of nausea spread over you as the jet experienced a small bout of turbulence, making you grab whatever was closest to you. Your knuckles were white as you held onto one of the straps to the seatbelts. It had been almost thirty-nine hours since you last slept, but even that wasn’t enough to bring you down- flying had never been something you enjoyed, and the sleep deprivation only seemed to spur on your jumpiness- though this time it was paired with nausea which certainly didn’t help the situation… you weren’t going to tell Steve that though- especially not after he had offered to sedate you for the ride.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Rogers,” Steve nodded, patting your shoulder, and gave you an encouraging smile before sitting down across from you. The blond looked to his left at Bucky who was also still awake. The former Winter Soldier had gotten out of the shower after you had, of course, had been while the jet was still on the ground. Bucky’s long hair was still quite damp and now Bucky was combing through it with his fingers- this seemed to be his newest pass time and distraction from his own exhaustion- why he wasn’t sleeping you couldn’t guess. This new pass time though was certainly much preferable to the last one which was snapping and unsnapping the buttons on his jacket or playing with the metal-tipped tassels on his boots.

Though there was one thing that provided you a little distraction from your distress- even in his exhausted state, Bucky was a vision. You had to force your eyes to keep them off of him, staring at the grated floor instead of watching his muscles move under his long sleeve shirt as he took off his coat or ran his fingers through his hair. Fuck, even his hair was nice- certainly much nicer now after his shower, no longer matted with mud and blood from the mission.

“Alright,” Steve said, interrupting your internal monologue. “We land in five but… well don’t get too excited because we have a debriefing for the mission tonight as well.” He must have caught both your and Bucky’s clearly displeased expressions because he was already apologizing before either of you could say anything.

“Look I’m sorry you two but there isn’t much I can do about it. I’ll stall Fury for a few minutes so you can grab a cup of coffee- change into something a little more comfortable or something but that's probably the best I can do- Fury said tonight… something about the microchip Bucky grabbed and the information you recorded, (Y/N), having vital importance in another time-sensitive mission.” Steve sounded just as annoyed as you felt so you nodded a little bit, taking a piece of gum from out of the backpack to your left and popping it in your mouth. Bucky didn’t say anything in response, and the rest of the ride was silent, even when you hit a little turbulence in the landing, which sent you into a slight panic, the quinjet was almost silent save for F.R.I.D.A.Y’s voice over the coms and the engines. Funnily enough, it was that very silence was beginning to lull you into a much-needed sleep, but you felt the aircraft touch down, jolting you back awake.

You were the first to unbuckle and gather your things- heading off the aircraft as soon as the door was open. You were happy, at least, to have your feet back on the ground. Either way, you practically stumbled your way onto the elevator that would take you to the floor you shared with Steve, Bucky, and Sam.

‘I’m gonna sleep for twenty hours, that is a goddamn promise,’ You thought to yourself as you opened the door to your room, you stopped long enough to spit out your gum in the little bin beside your door. However, you hadn’t even bothered to take off your dirt-covered combat boots before you flopped onto your bed. Had it always been this comfortable? You took a deep breath, still face down, slowly losing your grip on the importance of attending the briefing.

“Miss (L/N)?” Fuck.

“What, F.R.I.D.A.Y?”

“Captain Rogers wants to hold an immediate debriefing in the conference room upstairs.”

“Right… he did mention that. Thanks.” 

You rolled over and took another deep breath before you sat up, your muscles aching as you did so. You unzipped your boots and let them fall onto the floor at the foot of your bed with a very heavy ‘thunk.’ You then pulled your tactical pants off along with your short sleeve top embedded with nanotech thanks to Tony. You pulled on a pair of Stark Enterprise sweatpants and a black T-shirt before heading out of your room with no shoes and only fluffy Christmas socks you had gotten from Clint the year previous.

This _sucked._ Your eyes felt like they were going to close on their own, and they probably would have if you weren’t woken up a little by the smell of coffee. You looked over and found none other than Bucky Barnes holding two mugs of coffee. He stretched one out to you and you accepted it with a thankful smile.

“Figured we might need something to keep us awake. The others were lucky enough to sleep while we were on our stakeouts. I put a few extra shots of espresso in them… we should outlast the meeting” You nodded and gave him a little laugh.

“If we’re lucky,” you said, he returned your smile before taking a sip from his own coffee. Strangely enough, with all the excitement from the last few hours of the mission, and the experience of flying back home, you had almost forgotten about spending damn near twenty-two hours alone in a freezing, wet drainage pipe, listening in to conversations from phones, walkie-talkies, and spying on a few of the entrances after haking into the cameras.

It was important work, sure, important work that you knew you would do well, and everyone else did too. They knew you would do whatever was necessary which was why you sometimes got stuck with long shifts by yourself, and sometimes that meant spending hours on end cold and alone. You didn’t mind too much, for most of the night you were kept warm by the clothes Tony had designed for the team, but they hadn’t done well this time, not after the experimental tech had gotten totally drenched from the winter rain. Still, you made sure Steve and Tony understood you didn’t need anyone else, after all, it only took up extra time, taking valuable hands away from projects that are better worth their time.

Still, if you were alone you could tune in to what you were doing, make sure you had all the information, and because you didn’t have to worry about catching someone up, you didn’t have to worry about missing anything important. You would be able to give the information quickly, clearly, and in order of importance, something that made these long debriefing meetings just that much shorter, and that was well worth it to you.

You took a sip from your mug now, humming a little as the hot coffee met your tongue. You stepped on the elevator with Bucky, now being able to take in his change of clothes just for a second as he took in yours. He had grabbed a pair of black pajama pants and a white T with his name printed on the left side of the chest where a pocket would be- it had been the shirt Tony had made for him when Bucky and he had been teamed up for the Mario Kart tournament Sam and you had set up that summer. You knew well enough that the words Iron Soldier were written across his back- a testament to Tony’s forgiveness, and Bucky’s as well. After everything that happened, you had mused, the two of them got along far better than anyone had expected after they were able to work out the past and their few disagreements.

“So,” you cleared your throat a bit, “everything go according to plan on your part?” You looked from Bucky back to the doors of the elevator, taking another sip.

“I would say it was almost a perfect mission, I might have messed up on a few bit but they should be minor, so nothing crazy- not gonna be a huge deal in the long run,” Bucky said, stifling a yawn at the end of his sentence.

“What about you, (Y/N), everything go alright?” You shrugged.

“Went just about as well as anyone could expect- hopefully that means it’ll be a short meeting then.” Bucky chuckled.

“I sincerely doubt it.”

“Well, I can be optimistic now, can’t I, Barnes?” He held up a hand as if submitting to your words.

The elevator dinged and the two of you headed to the conference room, taking your usual seats as Steve started his portion of the meeting. The supersoldier seemed to ramble, you would have cut a few minutes of his presentation out, but there wasn’t much you could really do about that. Your presentation was quite short, after all, all you needed to do was let them know you had what you needed, explore a few of the more complex details, and link them all the spliced evidence you had put together while the Hydra agents were less talkative. You were sure now, that the coffee had helped, because you did even yawn once while presenting, and were awake, or mostly awake for the rest of the presentation. Your mug was empty before Fury began to wrap up. All in all, it was about thirty to forty-five minutes long, much shorter than you had expected which was a welcome surprise to be sure. The team headed up to the elevators, and as people headed off to their floors and their rooms, both you and Bucky headed to the living room on one of the higher floors.

“I’m glad you grabbed us those coffees, Buck, otherways I’m pretty sure I’d be passed out under the conference room table… and I really don’t need Fury to reprimand me for that again- and I really don’t wanna hear Steve talk to me about it either.” He laughed in response and settled down on the couch with you as you opened up Netflix and flipped through a few shows. Bucky seated himself on the opposite side of the couch as you, leaving a cushion of space between you, which was perfect for you to fold your legs and use the armrest as a pillow. You had thrown on Parks and Rec to fill the silence as you and Bucky winded down.

“This alright?” You asked, motioning to the TV screen, but Bucky wasn’t looking at it, his eyes were looking down at you in your folded-up position, but after the day you had it wasn’t long until you were stretching them out over his lap, startling yourself, as you moved to fold them again. Bucky’s hand caught your ankle.

“Sorry, Buck, I didn’t mean to-”

“Nah, Doll, you’re alright, I don’t mind.” You offered him a grateful smile as you rested your legs over his and leaned back against the cushion again. It was Bucky’s warm hand resting on your ankle still that damn near gave you goosebumps but this feeling faded just as soon as it came- it just felt right.

You watched Bucky rest his head against the back of the couch and it wasn’t long before his breathing became long and languid, and you settled back in too, letting sleep come over you- it was sudden, and heavy, just what you needed.

You were woken about a few hours later, the sun was still down, and below you now you knew New York City was still awake and alive. The rest of the tower was silent, there was just Bucky’s soft breathing, and on the TV was the Netflix screen asking if you were still watching. You pressed ‘No’ and lifted your legs off of Bucky’s lap. You got to your feet and stumbled a little. Bucky roused a little and lifted his legs onto the couch, slouching to a more comfortable position, you were walking past when his hand reached up and grabbed yours.

He didn’t say a word, just gently tugged your back down to him, and you slipped back onto the couch with him. His arm found its place over your waist, his other hand brushing your hair softly.

“This ok?” he asked groggily, his voice deeper from sleep.

“Mhm,” you hummed, closing your eyes again, easing into sleep once more, Bucky's soft and slow breath fanning across the exposed skin on your neck. This sleep was even better than the last.

The sunlight to the living room had been blocked out by some dark curtains drawn up by F.R.I.D.A.Y. per Steve’s request when he had risen earlier in the morning to grab breakfast. He had found both Bucky and (Y/N) on the couch. He hadn’t had the heart to wake them, and the rest of the team had seemed to taken a page from his book and followed suit, crossing through the living room on quiet feet with not so much as a whisper.

Tony, however, hadn’t heard of it yet. You and he had made plans just a few days earlier to go on a run through Central Park, neither of you expecting the mission to take as long as it did, or for you to be as tired as you were. It was almost noon now and he hadn’t seen you yet, and it was time to start looking.

He went down to the main floor and found it almost completely dark, he found Steve passing through the living room with both a book and an apple in hand. Tony opened his mouth to speak but the supersoldier held up a finger and motioned for Tony to follow him through the dining room and into the kitchen.

“Why is the floor dark, why do we have to whisper?” Tony asked, Steve motioned to the living room that was just beyond the kitchen.

“Oh here we don’t,” Steve said, flicking on the light, “it's just they fell asleep on the couch… after everything I figured they’d need all the sleep they could get." He took a crisp bite from his apple.

“Who?”

“(Y/N) and Bucky,” Steve said, motioning to the door. Tony’s mouth almost dropped, he nearly didn’t believe it, Steve guessed as much as Tony exited the kitchen quickly and thundered his way into the living room, finding Barnes curled around (Y/N), the both of them fast asleep.

“They’re too cute,” Tony said, as Steve followed him, his voice a little louder than expected, waking Bucky- he had always been the lighter sleeper.

“Nice going” Steve muttered,

The first thing Bucky noted was how good his room seemed to smell, god it never smelled this good… what was it? He was hearing the muted sound of whispering voiced and retreating footsteps. He tried to settle further into bed before realizing he wasn’t actually in bed… and he wasn’t alone.

Oh, that’s right, (Y/N).

She too was beginning to wake thanks to Bucky’s movement. 

You were roused from your sleep by a bit of movement behind you, this startled you, causing you to put upright, Bucky’s arm falling from your waist, his hand, which had been almost tangled in your hair, being pulled free. Ouch.

“Sorry,” Bucky stammered, sitting up as well, you looked back at his panicked face and let out a long breath.

“No, no, bucky don’t even worry about it… I just… forgot where I was. You’re- you’re ok.” You felt your face flush.

“Oh,” Bucky said, the silence was deafening- then you heard Tony and Steve talking in hushed tones. You could guess what had led to your waking up.

“You’re um… you’re a really good cuddle buddy,” You said to Bucky, glad the darkened room would hide your blushed cheeks. You said, he smiled timidly, gratefully.

“You too,” He said, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear, suddenly making you self conscience. You started brushing your hair down.

“Sorry, I hope I didn’t suffocate you with my-”

“Np um, don’t be, your hair is um, your hair is really soft.” You let yourself laugh a little.

“Um, what time is it?” You asked, yawning.

“Noon.” You turned and saw Tony in the doorway, the lights slowly came up and you recognized his running gear almost immediately.

“Oh, shit, Tony, I’m sorry, I totally forgot,” He swatted at the air at your apologies.

“No, it is ok, (Y/N), I get it, you’d rather cuddle up to Old Man Winter here instead of going on a run with me, I get it.” He laughed at himself as he headed to the elevator, Steve on his heels.

“I can go get ready, just-”

“Don’t even think about it, (Y/N),” Tony said, “Steve said he’d join me… not that I’m sure I really want him to after what Sam told me he is like but… rest up... you too Barnes.” The elevator door shut leaving just you and Bucky again.

“We should probably go to our rooms then,” Bucky said, clearing his throat a little.

“Or,” You said softly, Bucky turned his gaze from the now-closed elevator to your face, now that the room was light up there was no hiding the blush.

“Or?”

“I mean, we can keep cuddling- only if you’re ok with it though,” you added that last bit quickly. Bucky smiled softly and took a deep breath.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y?”

“Yes, Mister Barnes?”

“Mind turning off the lights?” The lights dimmed at his words and he laid back down, opening his arms up to you. You let yourself back into his embrace almost immediately, a hand gently brushing some of his hair out of your face now- a fair trade you supposed.

“Hey Buck,” You whispered, becoming sleepy once more, “your hair is really soft too.”

His chuckle was deep and soft and he held you a little tighter.

  
  



End file.
